A Cry From The People

So I've been getting complaints about not updating this blog. Here is why. I get so deep into my schedule that time flies and before you know it, a week has gone by. After that week another passes, and before you know it, everyone is complaining because I haven't updated my blog. Another reason is that I had no idea that so many of you were reading it. You see, everything I do is so routine for me that I have no idea what interests you. Frankly, I think my work life here is boring, but it's obvious now that all of you are interested in it, so I'm going to do my best to help you out.

Well, I have a solution for all of us. This blog has a comment section. All of you are free to ask me questions about anything that I do, or anything that is going on here. That's the deal. You ask the questions, and I answer them as best I can. So, I don't want to hear any more complaining about the blog. You're going to drive it from here on out. If you are reading the blog, let people know so they can ask questions if they want. I know a lot of times the media isn't covering things the way they are really happening, so here's your chance. I'll do my very best to answer each and every question you post. If I can't answer off the top of my head, I'll find out. Is that a deal?

I experienced my first dust storm here last week. It was actually kind of interesting. Don't get me wrong, it was a real pain, but at the same time it was intriguing to watch. It's kind of like fog, but because the particulate matter is dirt instead of moisture, the ambient noise outside is dampened rather than being increased. There is an eerie quiet while you're outside that's hard to describe. The light that filters through is orange because of the color of the soil. On top of that, the dust is so fine, that it gets everywhere on you. It sticks to the slightest bit of moisture, so your mouth and eyes always feel gummy. That's it for the interesting part. The pain about it is that you now have a very fine sand in all of your equipment that isn't covered. It wreaks havoc on aircraft and electronics. Guess what we have a lot of? Yep. Aircraft and electronics. Once the dust clears we have to wipe down EVERYTHING. Imagine showering your entire home with tons of talcum powder. The best way to describe it is this. Say you turned the fan on your central air. Then remove the filter. Take a 20 lb. bag of flour and sprinkle it into the intakes while the fan is running. Now, let that settle out inside your house. What you have is the same effect as the dust, except the dust is much more abrasive, and there's a lot more than 20 lbs. of it. Another thing I learned about dust storms is that when a storm blows up the dust, it can rain mud. That's right. The thunder storm blows up the dust ahead of the rain. It's so fine, that when the rain begins to fall, the drops collect it on the way down. On top of that, the moisture that does make it to the ground as water instead of mud attracts more dust when it hits. So, what you have is raining mud. You know how after a rain in the States everything is fresh and clean? Here, not so much. When it rains things get dirtier. Much, much dirtier. Believe it or not, after a rain, you have to wash down everything. The mud is so bad that we had to take bottles of water and pour them over the windshield while the wipers were on so that we could clean it off enough to see. You know, I realize that this part of the world was one of the original civilizations known to man, but I find it amazing that anyone stayed here long enough to settle. Inhospitable is too mild of a word for this place.

So, there you go. It's up to all of you now. From this point forward we have a symbiotic relationship. If you want more of the blog, ask questions. It's as simple as that.